Confer App: Notetaking and data collection app for teachers!

Hello again! It's Meredith from Creativity to the Core. 

Today, I must cut right to the chase because I am beyond excited about this new find! I was at a conference in Jacksonville, Florida right before Thanksgiving listening to a 2nd grade teacher talk about differentiation. It was a great presentation, but to be honest, I was thinking "I already do most of these things in my own classroom". That was until I heard her mention "this new DATA COLLECTION APP". My ears perked up! My eyes flew from my notebook to her face. We are in the age of data, data, data. This is perfection!

Really? I can just add my students into this app and log all of my annotations right on my iPhone? NO WAY. Wait what? I can take pictures of their work and add them to each student's personalized file? This was too good to be true.

But it IS true! It's called Confer. I may seem a little too excited about this, but let me tell you - It is worth it! It's available in the iTunes App Store or through Google Play for Android.

There are currently two versions of Confer. Confer (regular) is the full price version. It is $24.99, which may be more than you are used to paying for an app...however, think of it as a portable, digital, never-ending, never full data binder. I don't know about you, but I would pay lots of money for that.

The Confer lite edition is the free one that you can download quickly. Test it out for yourself! However, if you have more than 10 kids in your class (most of us) and you teach more than 2 subjects (most of us), this may not be ideal. Confer lite allows you to store two subjects with 10 students per subject. It also only allows for 5 notes per student.

Take it from me and download Confer lite. You will love it. Now for a closer look...

You can organize all of your information into three major sections: Subjects, Students, and Notes. Once you create an account, add subjects by using the + in the top right corner. Then add students to the subject. Once you add your class list once, you don't ever have to retype their names! To take notes on each student, just click on their names and then click the + in the top right corner.

A sort feature is at the bottom of most screens in the Confer app. My absolute favorite sorting feature is the options for student sorting. Look at the middle picture in the image above. I can always sort by first or last name, but I can also sort by the date, tag, strength, teaching point, next step, level, group, and flag! CRAZY AMAZING. 

I can literally add my students and their levels and simply click sort by level. Ta-da! Reading groups done. Then, if I want to teach a small group lesson on inferences, I can click sort by teaching point or next step and ta-da: focus group is chosen for me. No more flipping though pages and pages of charts! I can also flag students green, yellow, or red in certain subjects or topics, and then group them by flag color so that I can easily see where each student is. Here is a picture from Confer's website that displays the flagged students in each topic.

Once your students are added, adding notes is a breeze!

This next feature sold me instantly! Click on a student, take a picture of their work, and it's stamped with the date and a comment. Easy peasy and PERFECT for parent-teacher conferences, data chats with administration, and RtI meetings.

And just when you thought Confer had wow-ed you...it can export! Yes! Just click the arrow on the far right bottom of the screen to export a file from the app. There are many different options for you to choose from!

Fonts by KG Fonts & Hello Fonts, Graphics by Pretty Grafix & Ashley Hughes

I am SO excited to use this app full time in the classroom starting in January. It will help me to be efficient with my time and to keep everything in one place. I love that I can check Confer at home in my bed or while I'm talking with a concerned parent on the phone. In these data-driven times, we teachers must find ways that truly work to manage our time wisely and help our students achieve their fullest potential. I hope this little tutorial will help you this year! 

Check out a more in depth tutorial on the app or website. For more information and a video from David Lowe, the creator of Confer and a NBCT, click here. Happy data collecting!

Plickers... Formative Assessment & Data In One Handy Tool!

Hello Everyone! It's Katie from Simply Creative in KY, and I'm so excited to share with you my new favorite formative assessment tool!

One of my teammates shared with me the most AMAZING tool that I promise will change the way you give some of your formative assessments. I seriously am still on a high from using this tool. My kiddos LOVE using them, and I get so much great data INSTANTLY.

Okay, so what am I talking about here... PLICKERS!!!

I know, the name sounds ridiculous, and I have no idea where that name came from. After you finish reading this post, you need to go to the website and sign up. It's FREE!

Here are the basics: Each student has a Plicker card (it looks similar to a QR code), the teacher creates assessment questions on the website, displays them on the board, and uses the smartphone app to scan student responses.

This is my class set of Plicker cards. 

The question is displayed on the board, and students hold up their cards to show which answer they choose. I wrote in black marker the answer choices bigger so that my students didn't have to worry about reading the little writing on the cards.

This student turned his card to show that he selected answer B. 

Once every response has been scanned, you can analyze the results with your class. You can display the graph on the board while you are scanning cards so students can watch the graph grow.

Now, I know what you're thinking: I don't want to go around to every single student and scan their cards individually... that will take FOREVER. Don't worry. You don't have to! It takes about 30 seconds for me to scan every response from standing at the FRONT OF MY ROOM. Easy Peasy. No joke.

I start at one side of the front of my room and walk to other side, scanning all the cards in about 30 seconds or less! 

I can ALWAYS get at least 3 students at once... many times 5-6 students at once! 

Before showing the correct answer, we always talk about the question, what it's asking, and debate the different answer choices. Finally, you click "Show Correct" and the correct answer choice will pop up in green.

TALK ABOUT IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK!

Seriously, does it get any better than that? Also, using the Plickers app on my iPhone, I can simply look at who missed the question and what answer they chose. On the left, you can see who got the questions wrong. When I'm ready for the next question, I click the back button and choose the next question on my smartphone.

Look at all that fabulous data! Percentages, names of students, dates given... it's all RIGHT THERE for you! I archive my questions so that I can go back to them as needed to review results.

So did I convince you yet? If you're ready to set up your class and start creating assessment questions, keep reading for a quick tutorial! First go to Plickers.com and sign up for an account. You'll also need to download the app on your smartphone so that you can scan student responses.

After you sign up, go to CLASSES, and click ADD A NEW CLASS.

Type in all of your students. In my classroom, every student has a number that they are assigned for everything (cubbies, magnets, behavior tickets, etc.), and it's always the same. This number will be printed on the Plicker card, so you'll need to know which child you've assigned to which number.

Once I handed mine out, I had students put their name on the back so we could quickly identify whose card it belonged to.

Once you've created your class you can print your Plicker cards. You'll go to the option CARDS. There are different options for cards, but I use the standard set. Click the Standard Plickers Card Set option and it will download into a PDF for you to print.

After I printed my Plicker cards, I copied them on colored card stock and laminated them for durability. Now they're ready to go!

Now it's time to create your questions! In the turquoise box, start typing your question.

Here's the question I typed as an example for you. As you type in the answer choices, check the box to choose the correct answer. If you only want to have 3 answer choices, click the X next to the D and you can delete answer D as a choice. You can also switch to True/False at the top if you want that type of question. When you're finished with the question, click Save.

Once you've saved your question, you'll want to add it to your plan. Click +Add to Plan, then choose your class.

Now that you've created questions and downloaded the app, you're ready to use them with your students! Simply pull up the Plickers website on your Smartboard (or whatever display board you have) and click LIVE VIEW. Then, using your smartphone, choose the question you want students to answer and it will immediately change the screen that your class sees. Students hold up their cards while you scan responses, and that's it!

Getting everything set up to use took me about 30 minutes after school one day. Now that I have everything ready to go, I can create questions on the website in a matter of minutes. I'd love to hear from some of you who want to try it out! Let me know if there's any questions I can answer for you!

Happy teaching (and assessing)! See you next month!